The Inspirations are looking back across more than two centuries of American music with Songs for Our American Culture, a new album released through Horizon Records.
The collection brings together hymns, Southern gospel standards and one newly written song while making a broader case for gospel music’s place in the American story. It arrives as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026.
“As America celebrates 250 years of freedom and liberty, we have to ask ourselves the question, what is American culture?” group member Roland Kesterson said. “From our nation’s humble beginning, music has always played a part.”
That history is a fairly tangled family tree. Church music, Appalachian traditions, country, bluegrass and early popular music have borrowed from one another for generations, often using many of the same instruments, melodies and vocal arrangements. Songs for Our American Culture focuses on the quartet tradition that emerged from that mixture and became one of Southern gospel’s defining sounds.
The album opens with “O How I Love the Lord” and includes “Eye of the Storm,” “In the Shadow of the Cross,” “One More Valley,” “Lord Walk With Me” and “Resting in the Arms of a Never Failing God.” “Home Sweet Home,” written by Jewel Kesterson Scott, is the collection’s lone newly highlighted composition.
Its most notable collaboration comes on “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” where The Inspirations are joined by The Oak Ridge Boys. Both groups recorded the song in 1967, back when The Oak Ridge Boys were still primarily known as a gospel quartet.
Duane Allen said the younger lineup preserves the identity that has defined The Inspirations across several generations.
“When Isaac, Roland, Luke and Wyatt sing, it feels like every song was written just for them,” Allen said. “Each member owns his lead, and within their harmony is the Inspirations’ sound.”
The current lineup consists of Kesterson, Luke Vaught, Wyatt Austin and Isaac Moore.
The Inspirations formed in 1964 in Bryson City, North Carolina, and became a full-time group later in the decade. Their early recordings included “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” “Touring That City,” “When I Wake Up to Sleep No More” and “Jesus Is Mine.”
The group began recording for Horizon Records in the early 2000s with Pure Vintage. That period brought another run of charting songs, including “I Have Not Forgotten,” “If You Only Knew,” “My Name’s Already There” and “Sea of Forgetfulness.”
Songs for Our American Culture is available now. Dolby Atmos versions are streaming through Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL.